Friday, 30 November 2012

Border patrol police in China's southernmost province of Hainan on
Tuesday were given the power to embark on and check ships which
illegally enter its waters.

Detailed Regulations

A newly revised maritime regulation was enacted by the Standing Committee of Hainan Provincial People's Congress on November 27.

★The regulation defines six practices of illegal
activities of foreign ships or crews. These include illegal landing on
the islands under the jurisdiction of Hainan, damaging coastal defense
facilities or facilities for production and living, and carrying out
publicity campaigns that endanger China's national security.

★Hainan border police are entitled to use these
measures to stop the illegally entering ships or to force them into
changing or reversing course

★According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,
foreign ships are only allowed to make inoffensive passage through
China's territorial waters, meaning they can neither stop nor drop
anchor.

★In the past, when foreign ships broke the UN
convention, the best thing our patrol force could do was chase them out
of China's waters. This new regulation will change that situation and
grant the patrol force the legal means to actually do its job.

Photo: China's National Administration
of Surveying, Mapping and
Geoinformation

★The South China Sea covers
an area of 700,000 square kilometers, and some 200,000 square
kilometers of waters are settled. The region has abundant resources of
oil and natural gas, and some surrounding countries have been exploring
resources there for years.

★China has declared indisputable
sovereignty over South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters,
but several Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam and the
Philippines, have made competing claims.

★Countries including Vietnam, Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines lay claim to parts of the South
China Sea, which contains important shipping routes and is also believed
to contain rich oil and gas reserves. The issues in the South China Sea
are not only a conflict over the islands, but also includes resources
of oil and natural gas, underwater archaeology, hydrogeothermal and
fishery.

GT editorial: The
idea of establishing Sansha city emerged as early as 2007, but was
shelved due to protests by Vietnam. Now China has taken a concrete step,
signaling its determination to administer the Nansha Islands and
related sea areas. The new level of management carries more weight than
the law of Vietnam.More

The
on-going passport row can be solved via diplomatic channels. After
all, it is not possible to suspend Sino-foreign personnel exchanges due
to this episode.------Zhao Gancheng, an expert on Southeast Asia at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies

The standoff over Huangyan Island in the South China Sea
continues and Manila appears fully prepared to create more tensions.

China's
foreign ministry has noted that China is fully prepared to respond to
Manila's move to escalate the situation. The remarks are seen as China
sending a sign that it will not rule out the use of force.

The nation's first indigenous deep-water drilling rig, the
CNOOC 981, will begin operations on May 9 in an area in the South China
Sea 320 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong.

The move, hailed by analysts as an effective way to
reinforce China's territorial claims in the region, came amid an ongoing
standoff between Chinese and Philippine ships in waters near Huangyan
Island.

China is de-escalating the situation in Huangyan Island in
South China Sea by withdrawing two law enforcement vessels, Zhang Hua,
spokesman of Chinese Embassy in the Philippines said on April 23.

Two Chinese vessels, a Fishery Administration ship
"Yuzheng-310 " and a Chinese Maritime Surveillance ship No. 084, have
already left the Huangyan Island area by April 22, Zhang said. "There is
only one Maritime Surveillance ship remaining in the Huangyan Island
area for its law enforcement mission."

Vietnam's immigration authorities are issuing separate visa
sheets to new Chinese passport holders instead of stamping directly on
visa pages, after Beijing issued new passports that include a map of
territories also claimed by other countries.

Thursday, 29 November 2012

It is time we look at how our universities can be true to their
noble calling as a mirror of humanity’s great heritage rather than be in
danger of choosing show over substance.

A UNIVERSITY is a
temple of learning and a storehouse of the knowledge and wisdom of the
past. It is a receptacle of art, culture and science and a mir=ror of
humanity’s great heritage. At the same time it is a laboratory for
testing out a new vision of the future.

In more than four decades
as a teacher, I have witnessed the ebb and flow of many educational
movements. Some of them give me the feeling that we are choosing show
over substance.

> Industrial links: In order to refute
the charge that universities are ivory towers with no appreciation of
societal needs, all universities have forged close relationships with
the professions, industries and commerce. Curricula are devised to
satisfy Qualifying Boards and potential employers. Students are required
to do periods of apprenticeship. Captains of industry are often
recruited as adjunct professors.

All this is laudable. At the
same time it must be realised that our orientation towards industries
and the professions distorts university education in some ways. A
balance is needed.

> Lack of liberal education: The
role of universities is to advance knowledge and build characters and
not just careers. In their obsession with narrow professional goals and
employability of graduates, many universities adopt curricula that are
bereft of the arts and humanities. This paucity and poverty is
accentuated because, unlike many countries, professional courses in
Malaysia do not require a degree at entry point.

If a university
is true to its worth, it must provide holistic education and produce
well-balanced graduates who have professionalism as well as idealism, an
understanding of the realities as well as a vision of what ought to be.
Merely supplying technically-sound but morally-neutral human cogs in an
industrial wheel to contribute to high production figures, will not in
the long range lead to enlightened development of human capital or of
society.

> Research: The crucial, core factor in a
university’s eminence is qualified academicians with proven research
abilities and a solid commitment to lead and inspire their wards to
travel up the mountain path of knowledge.

A university cannot
become an acclaimed university unless it possesses a large number of
scholars who are the voice of the professions and who not only reflect
the light produced by others (knowledge application) but are in their
own right a source of new illumination (knowledge generation).

However,
emphasis on research is leading to a number of adverse tendencies.
Teaching is being neglected. Committed teachers are being bypassed in
tenure and promotions in favour of entrepreneuring researchers.

Instead
of singling out and supporting good researchers wherever they are
found, the Malaysian approach is to anoint some universities with RU
status and shower them with special grants. Innovators in non-research
universities are thereby prejudiced.

> Research has various components: Capacity, productivity and utility.

The
first (capacity) can be developed. Sadly, often it becomes an end in
itself. The second (productivity) does not necessarily follow from the
first. The third (utility) is often lacking. A great deal of research
has no impact on the alleviation of the problems of society. Prestige
and profit override public purpose. We need better criteria for research
grant eligibility.

> Seeking best students: At the
risk of sounding heretic, I wish to say that this modern obsession with
seeking “the best students” is not conducive to social justice. Highly
motivated, intelligent and articulate students make teaching a pleasure.

But
what is even more satisfying is to take ordinary students and convert
them into extraordinary persons; to mould ordinary clay into works of
art.

It is submitted that entry points should be flexible. They
should be based on holistic criteria. They should take note of initial
environmental handicaps. They should be cognizant that equitable access
to knowledge is a factor in sustainable development. They should further
the university’s role to assist in social and economic progress; to cut
poverty; to help the disadvantaged.

Entry points are less important than exit points. How a student ends the race is more important than how he/she began it.

All
universities should be required to run some remedial programmes for
under-achievers and to practise affirmative action for all marginalised
sections of the population.

> Over-specialisation: Our
system is committed to teaching more and more on less and less.
Production of enough professionals and technocrats for the industries
and the job market is an overriding role. However there is clear
evidence that half or more than half of the graduates end up in roles
outside of their university training.

In an age of globalisation,
economic booms and busts, and high unemployment rates, there is a
growing disconnect between what students study and what their subsequent
careers are.

It is therefore, necessary to train students for
multi-tasking, multi-disciplinary approaches; to have split-degree
courses; and to produce graduates who have career flexibility and who
are able to adapt to different challenges at work.

> Community service:
Universities must serve society and not just by producing graduates for
the job-market. All university courses must have an idealistic
component and must straddle the divide between being people-oriented and
being profession-oriented.

The curriculum must be so devised
that staff and students are involved in the amelioration of the problems
of society, in schemes for eradicating poverty, protecting the
en-vironment, providing fresh water, storm control, protection from
disease, adult education and free legal, medical, commercial and
technical advice.

Tailor-made, short term courses for targeted
groups should be devised to enrich lives. These courses should have no
formal entry requirement. Town-gown relationships should extend to links
with NGOs, GLCs and international groups that are involved in wholesome
quests like environmental sustainability.

> Globalisation:
Internatio­nalisation of knowledge is crucial for humanity’s
advancement. However, to be truly global, we must not ignore citadels of
excellence in Japan, Korea, China, India and Iran. It retards our
progress and prevents us from addressing problems peculiar to our clime
that our tertiary education suffers from a debilitating Western bias.
Our course structures, curricula, textbooks, and icons are all European
and American. It is as if the whole of Asia and Africa is and always was
an intellectual desert. The opposite is true.

Asian universities must build their garlands of knowledge with flowers from many gardens. That would be true globalisation.

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

WE refer to the letters written by Samsuddin Bardan of the Malaysian Employers Federation (The Star, Sept 30), the Secretariat, National Wages Consultative Council (The Star, Oct 2) and Peter Raiappan (The Star, Oct 27) on the issue of minimum wage.

Come
January, most of us will be concerned as to whether the minimum wages
as previously announced by the Government will be enforced on our
service industry e.g. security guards, waiters in hotels and restaurants
or other workers in similar industries that require them to work 24
hours, including Sundays and public holidays.

In the case of
security guards, it must be noted that most of these guards work 30 days
a month as opposed to most regular employees who work 26 days.

The
guards in particular will have to work the extra four days to claim the
four days overtime payment (in addition to the daily four-hour
overtime) to obtain that extra cash for a take-home salary of more than
RM1,000 a month.

The security service employers are indeed in a dilemma.

Besides
the overtime payment, the security companies will have to fork out
additional expenditure such as the “post allowance” to the guards
particularly for those assignments which are located in isolated places,
transport allowance to guards for the use of their own transport, and
not to mention the “attendance allowance” as an incentive to compel the
guards to avoid unnecessary absenteeism. There are also cases where a
“laundry allowance” is given to ensure that the guards are in their most
presentable uniforms while on duty.

All this amounts to additional unavoidable costs to the security companies.

We,
the security operators, are most concerned about the take-home salary
of the guards and not just the basic salary of RM900 a month (less EPF
and Socso deductions).

This is precisely why we encourage the
security guards to work 12 hours (with four hours overtime payment
daily) for them to earn the extra cash. Even the Nepalese guards that we
employ work the 12 hour shift for the same reason.

We believe
that even if we compel the guards to work for only eight hours a day, I
am sure they will find some other part-time job to earn the extra cash
during their time off.

This may not be healthy as they will most
likely be too tired to effectively perform their duties as security
guards in their regular assignments.

This may even result in them skipping work, which is worse.

Security guards are posted everywhere in the country. They are not stationed in one place like the factory workers.

Some people may not be too concerned about security but the role of these guards should not be taken for granted.

They are important in our society to prevent crime amidst the worrying level of crime in the country lately.

We
are indeed in a dilemma whether we can continue to sustain our security
service industry in the face of the above-mentioned escalating
operating costs if the Government insists on proceeding with the minimum
wage of RM900 requirement.

We therefore, urge the Government to
exclude the security service industry and other similar industries from
the implementation of this RM900 minimum wages scheme due to the extra
costs to be incurred from the additional four hours of daily overtime
work.

They also work during public holidays and Sundays.

These will incur extra double overtime which in return their take home pay is more than RM900.

We
hope the Government to consider our appeal seriously to postpone the
implementation of the new salary scheme which is due on Jan 1.

It is for the good of the security service industry and for the economy in general.

On the market side, the China haters are looking more and more
ridiculous. Not that I’m a China bull. I’m not smart enough to say that.
And I have money in China. But I am smart enough and am surrounded by
even smarter people who have led me to believe there is no hard landing.
So on the market side, the China naysayers are wrong.

On the political side, the China haters who think the country is
stealing all our Nike shoe and Optimus Prime assemblying jobs thanks to
their currency manipulation are also wrong. For the second time this
year, the U.S. Treasury Department said in its report to Congress on
international economic and exchange rate policies that, wait for
it…China is not a currency manipulator. The two or three guys advising
Mitt Romney on China were wronger than Tim Tebow starting as QB for the
Jets.

“The Treasury Department once again made the right call on China’s
currency policy in its report to Congress. Labeling China a currency
‘manipulator’ would do little to help us reach the goal of a fully
convertible currency and market-driven exchange rate for China,” said
John Frisbie, president of the U.S. China Business Council, a lobby of
multinationals working in China.

“Adding the very public ‘manipulator’ tag might simply produce
pressure within China to slow down progress on this (forex) issue,” he
said in a statement Tuesday.

China’s exchange rate has strengthened over 30 percent against the
dollar over the past several years. The upshot is that the exchange rate
has little to do with the U.S. trade balance or employment. Even as the
renmimbi weakened, the U.S. trade deficit with China worsened.

Of course, not being a currency manipulator doesn’t mean that the renmimbi (RMB) is properly valued.

From the report:
The renminbi has appreciated by 9.3 percent in nominal
terms and 12.6 percent in real terms against the dollar since June 2010.
China’s trade and current account surpluses both have fallen to 2.6
percent of GDP from peaks of 8.8 and 10.1 percent of GDP, respectively.
The Chinese authorities have substantially reduced the level of
official intervention in exchange markets since the third quarter of
2011, and China has taken a series of steps to liberalize controls on
capital movements, as part of a broader plan to move to a more flexible
exchange rate regime. In light of these developments, Treasury has
concluded that the standards identified in Section 3004 of the Act
during the period covered in this Report have not been met with respect
to China. Nonetheless, the available evidence suggests the RMB remains
significantly undervalued, and further appreciation of the RMB against
the dollar and other major currencies is warranted.”
China’s real effective exchange rate (REER) – a measure of its
overall cost-competitiveness relative to its trading partners – has
appreciated since China initiated currency reform in mid-2005, after
declining between 2001 and 2005. From July 2005 to October 2012, China’s
real effective exchange rate appreciated by 27 percent. The REER
appreciated particularly rapidly in the last several months of 2011,
resulting in total REER appreciation of 6.2 percent over the course of
2011. Over the ten months of 2012, China’s REER has been unchanged.

The International Monetary Fund concluded that the RMB was moderately
undervalued against a broad basket of currencies, and said that the RMB
was undervalued by between 5 and 10 percent as of July 2012.

Reserve accumulation, an indicator of the degree of Chinese
intervention in the currency market, has slowed markedly since the third
quarter of 2011 as China buys less U.S. debt.

Even with the reduced pace of dollar accumulation, China’s official
foreign exchange reserves remain exceptionally high compared to those of
other economies, and well beyond established benchmarks of reserve
adequacy. As of end-September 2012, the PBOC held $3.3 trillion in
foreign reserves, equivalent to 42 percent of China’s GDP, or about
$2,440 for every Chinese citizen.

10 Things “The End of Cheap China” Means for You

Getty Images North America

+show more

Your espresso will get more expensive . . .

China, traditionally a tea-drinking nation, is now Starbucks’
largest market outside of the U.S., and the company plans to have more
than a thousand cafés in the country by 2015. The Chinese middle class’
growing taste for premium coffee is causing commodity prices to soar; in
2011 Arabica bean prices hit their highest peak in over three decades,
and analysts attributed that to fast demand growth in China as well as
in Brazil and Indonesia.

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

In a difficult position: Shoppers walking outside one of the unisex salons in KB Mall.

Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan's
recent remarks about salons make us wonder if he has anything between
the ears'. How then can he not know that PAS is messing things up in a
respectable industry.

DATUK Takiyuddin Hassan should be
invited by hair stylists for a visit to their shops the Kelantan state
executive councillor has no idea what he is talking about. To put it
bluntly, he is talking rubbish.

He doesn't need to have a hair cut or a hair wash but simply observe the operations at a hair salon.

And sir, it is hair salon and not hair saloon. There is no drinking or entertainment of any kind.

A hair salon is different from a girlie barber shop, that's another point you should be aware of.

On
Sunday, the PAS assistant secretary-general defended the PAS state
government's decision to enforce gender-segregation rules on unisex
salons, prohibiting women from cutting the hair of men, and vice-versa.

He
said: “It is a well-known fact that hair salons and unisex
establishments are the most convenient places for immoral activities.

“They
provide a cover for men and women to engage in illicit activities. If I
were a Chinese, I will never allow my wife to patronise such salons or
even consider allowing my children to work in such places because of
their reputation as a hotbed for immoral activities.

“And even a
Chinese wife will feel uneasy to allow her husband to go to such places.
Frequently such places will always lead to scandals.”

Like many Malaysians who read these remarks yesterday, I really didn't know whether to cry or to burst out laughing.

Many of us go to hair salons for hair cuts simply because, unlike barbers, these hair stylists are properly trained.

Many invested in diploma courses in famous training schools in London, Paris, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

We don't expect Takiyuddin to know what “a layer cut” is.

Huge
sums of capital have been invested into their hair salons and many
well-known hair stylists have turned entrepreneurs by setting up chains
of hair salons nationwide.

These hair stylists work hard on their
reputation, of which PAS may not be aware of, but clients are selective
in their choice of hair salons.

Takiyuddin has no idea what he
is talking about. We wouldn't blink an eye if our family members have
their hair cut at hair salons - by a male or a female stylist.

And
most of us have family members or friends who work at hair salons and
we are proud of their skills and creativity. They make many Malaysians
look good with their professionalism and abilities.

It is even
more humorous when Takiyuddin said that “when a woman worker gives upper
body massages to a male customer, one thing will eventually lead to
another, ending with illicit activities”.

Hello, the nearest massage one gets at a hair salon is a neck-and-shoulder massage.

And from where Takiyuddin is coming from, he and his party leaders will surely shut down spas when they come to power.

Since
male stylists cannot cut the hair of females and vice-versa, will we
see PAS banning women doctors from treating male patients?

So if
Takiyuddin suffers a heart attack while he is giving a press conference,
will he wait for a male doctor to come, even if there is a female
doctor nearby?

Next, women flight attendants won't be serving
Takiyudidin when he is flying because it can lead to many things, what
with their smiles and the uniforms they wear.

The hair on my hands are already standing on end just reading what Takiyuddin has reportedly said.

PETALING JAYA: One of the country’s leading hairstylists, Winnie
Loo, has come out to defend the industry, saying that contrary to
allegations by the Kelantan government, the business is run by
professionals.

China has successfully conducted flight landing on its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, naval sources said.A new J-15 fighter jet was used as part of the landing exercise.After its delivery to the People's Liberation Army
(PLA) Navy on Sept. 25, the aircraft carrier has undergone a series of
sailing and technological tests, including the flight of the
carrier-borne J-15.Capabilities
of the carrier platform and the J-15 have been tested, meeting all
requirements and achieving good compatibility, the PLA Navy said.Since the carrier entered service, the crew have completed more than 100 training and test programs.The
successful flight landing also marked the debut of the J-15 as China's
first generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet, the PLA Navy
said.Designed
by and made in China, the J-15 is able to carry multi-type anti-ship,
air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, as well as precision-guided
bombs.The J-15 has comprehensive capabilities comparable to those of the Russian Su-33 jet and the U.S. F-18, military experts estimated.Successful aircraft landing exercises on China's first aircraft carrier mean the country is now capable to deploy fighter jets on the carrier, a senior navy officer said Sunday.Pilots have mastered key skills to ensure the success of the take-off
and the landing, especially under unfavorable conditions such as poor
visibility and unstable airflow, said Vice-Admiral Zhang Yongyi, a
deputy commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy."It's like 'dancing on a knifepoint' as the aircraft have to land on a
very limited space," Zhang said while commenting on the successful
flight landing recently conducted on the carrier, the Liaoning.The aircraft must land precisely over a very short and narrow runway
on the carrier at a speed of several hundreds of kilometers per hour,
Zhang said in an interview with Xinhua Sunday, after the J-15 fighter
succeeded in the landing tests."We have done all these test flights from the very beginning, and
finally we mastered the key skills for the landing of carrier-borne
aircraft," said Zhang, who is also the commander-in-chief in charge of
the tests and training program of the flight landing.Currently, the Chinese pilots have found out the right ways to
conduct the landing and they have consolidated their skills, according
to the Navy officer, who himself is a meritorious pilot of the Chinese
naval air force.Zhang said the carrier-borne aircraft and special equipment for the
landing flight have gone through strict tests, and fighter jets can be
deployed on the aircraft carrier.

Monday, 26 November 2012

GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s economy slowed down in the first nine months of the year, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim.

“The state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of about 5.7% in 2008 has dropped to 1.8% from January to September this year.

“The
poor GDP record has put Penang, which used to record one of the highest
growth rates in the country, in seventh position behind places like
Kuala Lumpur and and Johor,” he said.

Lim said Johor recorded a
GDP growth of more than 6%, exceeding the national average of 5.3%,
adding that 1.8% was below average and the Chief Minister (Lim Guan Eng)
had to answer for this.

“By right, Penang should be doing very well as many people are flocking to the state which has a service-skilled workforce.

“I’m
surprised that Penang has done so poorly,” he said at the Malaysian
Economy and 2013 Budget Economic Forum at a hotel here Saturday .

Asked
why the Penang economy recorded such a slow growth, Lim quipped,
“Probably he (the Chief Minister) didn’t work hard enough!”

“Perhaps his methods and direction are wrong or that he didn’t do enough homework. Maybe he is too busy with other things.

“I’m not saying that he’s not doing his job, this is for the rakyat to decide,” he said.

Lim added the Ministry of Finance was forecasting the last quarter of the year to record a GDP of about 5.2%.

He assured Malaysians that the country’s economy was not headed towards bankruptcy as speculated by certain quarters.

“We have a RM456bil debt as of last year but our revenue is RM881bil, and we incur a deficit of about 58.2%.

“Our economy is doing much better compared to our Asean counterparts such as Singapore which has a deficit of 107%.
Even countries like the United States and those in European Union are suffering from a higher debt.

“Malaysia
practices an open economic policy and as of Oct 15, our foreign reserve
has reached RM424bil, making us the 19th biggest foreign reserve
country in the world,” he said.

The forum, organised by the MCA
Bukit Gelugor division, was attended by some 300 people comprising
Barisan Nasional division leaders, community leaders and businessmen.

Sunday, 25 November 2012

As stratified developments become a way a life, good maintenance and management have become an issue.

EARLIER
this year, a new set of property managers replaced the previous one in
the condominium that Siti lives. Not having a current account, she paid
her quarterly management fees in cash. She was told that the receipt
would be put in her postbox. It never came and she soon discovered that
the property management company had absconded with the money.

As
stratified developments which include condominiums, service apartments
and gated and guarded projects become a way of life, good maintenance
and management have become an issue.

Good management and
maintenance will improve the value of the asset. This applies to all
segments of the property market, be it residential, commercial or
industrial.

Hence, the third reading of the Strata Management Bill 2012 on Monday is crucial, says Assoc-Prof Ting Kien Hwa, head of Centre for Real Estate Research at Universiti Teknologi Mara.

“Currently,
property management is part of a service provided by valuers, who are
regulated by the Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents.

The work of valuers can be broadly divided into three areas property management, valuation work and real estate agency work.

This means that property management is a regulated profession and delinquents risk having their licence suspended.

For
the last five to six years, managing stratified properties has become
an issue, he says. As more of us live in gated and guarded developments,
and high rise condominium and serviced apartments, property management
is evolving to become a lucrative industry.

Ting says the Board
of Valuers is in the process of creating a third register to accommodate
property managers. Valuers and real estate agents are governed by two
registers and the Board of Valuers are working on creating a third one
for property managers.

Says Ting: “This is a similar situation as
in the early 1980s when there were many illegal real estate agents.
They were given a one-year period to register with the board.”

Ting
says the duty and responsibilities of property managers go beyond just
collecting money and managing a property. The word “managing” covers a
whole gamut of expertise and responsibilities. These include insurance
valuation, the appropriate rate of service charges to levy on owners,
managing service providers like security guards and cleaners, gardeners
and managing tenants and rental rates among other duties.

Depending on whether it is a residential or commercial property, some issues may overlap.

To claim that valuers want to monopolise the property management industry is incorrect, Ting says.

“Some
parties say they want to liberalise' the profession. Just as engineers
and architects are regulated by the Institute of Engineers and
Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia respectively, so property managers are
regulated by the Board of Valuers because property management is part of
the work of valuers. This is the situation in the United States,
Britain and Australia. Shall we then liberalise' the achitecture and
engineering profession by allowing more people who are untrained to
practise as architects and engineers because architects and engineers
are monopolising' the industry?” Ting asks.

Ting says this argument to liberalise the profession and cut out the monopoly does not hold water at all.

He
says there are currently 8,000 trained property managers in the country
and every year, 450 more graduates enter the job market.

The
local public universities provided courses in property management in the
late 1960s because they knew there would be a need for this.

Malaysian Institute of Professional Property Managers president Ishak Ismail
says: “The Government was visionary enough to foresee a time when
stratified housing will become part of the Malaysian property landscape.
The first condominium was Desa Kuda Lari in the KLCC area.

“Today
about four million people live in stratified projects. About 80% of all
the stratified projects are managed by joint management bodies and
management committees. About 20% are outsourced and of this about 58%
are managed by illegal property managers.”

Ishak said over and
above the various issues that fall under property management, two sets
of skills are needed the hard skills in managing the property and the
soft skills in people management.

He says there is a need to put
in the proper regulations to regulate property managers in order to
improve the value of our property assets. There must be no conflict of
interest because it involves public money, be it house owners or tenants
of commercial properties, he says.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) poses during the family photo at the 15th
ASEAN-China summit meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, November
19, 2012. Also in the picture is Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen.
REUTERS/ Samrang Pring

PHNOM PENH/BEIJING (Reuters) - When U.S. President Barack Obama and
more than a dozen leaders arrived in Cambodia for a regional summit
meeting this week, only one of them was feted with banners strung from
the venue gates.

As
the leaders left, the green-and-white banners were still festooned
outside Phnom Penh's Peace Palace, a fitting reminder of China's
powerful and growing clout as Beijing uses its influence - and money -
to win friends and frustrate those uneasy about its sweeping territorial
claims and rising military strength.

"Some states are easily
swayed by money. If they see cash, they easily throw away their
principles," said one Asian diplomat at the East Asia Summit, which
included heads of state from 10 Southeast Asia countries and
counterparts from the United States, China, Japan and other Asia-Pacific
nations.

"China has been throwing its weight around and buying the loyalties of some Asian states."

A
prime example is Cambodia, whose prime minister, Hun Sen, helped China
to notch up a succession of diplomatic victories at the summit. China
stalled debate on a resolution of maritime disputes in the South China
Sea, rebutted attempts by Southeast Asian nations to start formal talks
on the issue and avoided any rebuke from Obama over territorial
ambitions. Commentators declared China a clear summit winner.

A
closing statement by Hun Sen, this year's chair of the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), made no mention of the
South China Sea, another victory for China's attempts to prevent
multilateral talks on the dispute.

China has poured investments
and loans into Cambodia in recent years, becoming its biggest trade
partner and bilateral creditor. Cambodia's debt to China now totals at
least $4.7 billion, about a third of its economy.

The price of
that largesse has become clear this year, say analysts, as Cambodia has
used its powers as ASEAN chair to restrict debate over the vexed issue
of China's maritime claims, dividing the group and infuriating U.S. ally
the Philippines.

The 45-year-old ASEAN group has been built on a
foundation of unanimity and unity, but that has unravelled as it
struggles to cope with its biggest security challenge. In July, a
meeting of the region's foreign ministers broke down in unprecedented
acrimony and failed to agree a communique for the first time.

This
week's ASEAN meetings again deteriorated into bad-tempered sniping and
came close to a breakdown when Hun Sen adopted a draft statement saying
there was a consensus not to "internationalise" the South China Sea
dispute beyond ASEAN and China.

The Philippines, which sees its
alliance with the United States as a crucial check on China's claims at a
time when Washington is shifting its military focus back to Asia, made a
formal protest to Cambodia and succeeded in having that clause removed
from the final statement.

China then poked fun at Manila's
assertion that there had been no consensus. Eight out of 10 leaders had
agreed not to internationalise the dispute, meaning there was a
consensus, said Qin Gang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman.

"I suggest that people when attending the EAS (East Asia Summit) meetings have to be very good at mathematics," he said.

"That's 10 minus two, so which is bigger?"

NAVAL BUILDUP

Beijing
claims a vast U-shaped line around the South China Sea that brushes up
against the coasts of the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia. The
area is thought to hold vast, untapped reserves of oil and natural gas,
and naval flashpoints between Chinese vessels and the Philippine and
Vietnamese navy have become increasingly common.

Hopes for a
diplomatic resolution within the ASEAN-China framework look bleak in the
next two years as tiny Brunei and then Myanmar take up the chairmanship
of the group.

Cambodia, like fellow "Mekong" countries Laos and
Myanmar, has been rapidly pulled into China's economic orbit through
rocketing trade and investment ties.

It has become customary for
Chinese officials to arrive in Cambodia bearing "gifts", such as the
$100 million investment that Wen announced on his arrival this week to
build the emerging country's biggest cement plant. China has moved
nimbly to set up free trade deals with Southeast Asia nations and has
played a dominant role in financing and building big infrastructure
projects in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

After the summit, Wen
visited Thailand where he signed an understanding to buy rice, which
should strongly lift Beijing's standing with a government that is a
close ally of the United States. Bangkok has built up record stockpiles
of 14 million tonnes of milled rice after a populist programme to pay
farmers more for their crops made exports unprofitable.

If
diplomatic efforts stall, China's options to back its claims with force
if needed are steadily growing with a military budget that outstrips the
combined spending of Southeast Asia.

As China ushered in a new
generation of leaders this month, outgoing President Hu Jintao made a
pointed reference to strengthening China's naval forces, protecting
maritime interests, and the need to "win local war."

"We should
make active planning for the use of military forces in peacetime, expand
and intensify military preparedness, and enhance the capability to
accomplish a wide range of military tasks, the most important of which
is to win local war in an information age," Hu said.

Besides the
South China Sea, China is embroiled in a dispute with Japan, also a
close U.S. ally, over islands in the East China Sea.

China's
stance is that it is not trying to become an offensive naval power, but
wants to secure its energy imports and boost development of maritime
natural resources, which are expected to represent 10 percent of its
economy by 2015.

But it is also wary of being encircled as the
United States refocuses its military clout on Asia in what Obama has
called a "pivot" back to the region as wars in the Middle East wind
down.

"It is absolutely (a buildup)," said Ruan Zongze, deputy
director of the China Institute of International Studies, the think-tank
of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

"No matter what kind of
narrative you use, the reality is that America in the past three years
has been putting greater emphasis or focus on the west Pacific. That
raises a lot of questions for China."

China launched its first
aircraft carrier in September, increasing its ability to project forces
deeper into "blue-water" maritime territory. Bought from Ukraine
ostensibly to use as a floating casino, the Chinese navy spent years
refurbishing the carrier, which is undergoing sea trials. It also
test-flew two types of stealth fighters this year, the second one last
month - a smaller, more maneuverable model believed to be designed to be
deployed on an aircraft carrier.

"China has ambitions to become
the premier military power among its regional peers, and a serious
threat to U.S. maritime primacy in the Asia Pacific," said Sam
Roggeveen, an Asian defence analyst with the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

Roggeveen
added that if China were to deploy more than one carrier and equip them
with high-performance stealth fighters, "it would become the
pre-eminent regional maritime power, with the ability to coerce
neighbours in disputes in which the U.S. prefers not to get involved".

By Stuart Grudgings and Terril Yue Jones
(Additional reporting by James Pomfret and Manuel Mogato in PHNOM PENH; Editing by Jason Szep and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Saturday, 24 November 2012

The leaders of Asean have succeeded in persuading their top trading
partners to start negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP) to create the world’s largest trading bloc.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen formally launched the negotiations
on the RCEP during the Asean Summit and Related Summits yesterday at a
meeting at the Peace Palace in the western part of Phnom Penh.

The leaders of the 10-member regional grouping and their six major
trading partners agreed to create a trading bloc that will comprise more
than three billion people and with a combined GDP of US$15 trillion,
roughly equal to that of the US.

Asean also launched the US-Asean Expanded Economic Engagement
initiative, aimed at expanding trade and investment ties with the US and
smoothing a path for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said that plans for the RCEP would be
welcomed by world leaders from Australia, India and the US as an amazing
tool of economic integration that might become the benchmark for other
regions.

“The spirit is not that of a zero-sum game. The economic integration
of other regions is complementary to the economic integration among
[Asean] member countries,” Wirjawan told The Jakarta Post on the
sidelines of the event.

“Many Asean member nations are conducting bilateral talks that are
just fine, because they are complementary [to the RCEP],” Wirjawan said.

The minister has previously said that the RCEP would “rewrap” five
current free trade agreements (FTAs) with Asean’s six major trading
partners, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Asean’s FTA with Australia and New Zealand covers both nations.

Wirjawan said that the prospects for the RCEP were currently brighter
than of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement touted
by the US, as Asean already had FTAs in place, albeit mostly on goods
and tariffs, with most of the nations involved.

The RCEP will expand upon existing FTAs to include agreements covering services and investment.

Asean is currently in discussions to expand its FTA with India, which
it expects to complete in time for the Asean-India Commemorative Summit
next month in India. Similar negotiations will follow with Japan.

Earlier in the day, there was a global dialogue between Asean leaders
with the heads of world financial institutions, including Asia
Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda, IMF Managing Director
Christine Lagarde, World Bank Managing Director Caroline Anstey, UN
Conference on Trade and Development Secretary-General Supachai
Panitchpakdi and World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy.

Wirjawan said that the leaders agreed that Asean had shown itself to
be resilient amid the global financial crisis, becoming a model for
other economic zones.

“Also discussed were efforts to face financial crises, such as the
Chiang Mai Initiative pool of funds, which has been increased from $120
million to $240 million,” Wirjawan said.

Another important decision that was made during meetings and summits
in Cambodia between November 15 and 20 was to start additional talks on
implementing the Asean Economic Community on Dec. 31, 2015, to aid
member nations in their preparations.

Asean’s leaders also adopted the Asean Human Rights Declaration,
despite critics who said that the document was not up to universal
standards of human rights protection, promotion, monitoring and
enjoyment.

At the end of the closing ceremony, Hun Sen presented the gavel to
Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah to mark the handover of
Asean’s rotating chair from Cambodia to Brunei starting on January 1.

Bolkiah said it would be the fourth time that Brunei would hold
Asean’s chair, and that the nation had chosen a motto of “Our People,
Our Future Together” for Asean for 2013.

Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand also brought to an
end to his term. He will be replaced by Vietnamese deputy foreign
minister Le Luong Minh, who has been endorsed by Asean’s member nations.
___________________________________________

An alternative to US President Barack Obama’s Trans-Pacific
Partnership, the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP) is
the newest concept for an economic union between ASEAN and six major
trading partners, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New
Zealand.

The RCEP is supposed to be a trading bloc that will comprise more
than three billion people with a combined GDP of $20 trillion, or almost
one-third of the global economy. Officials hope to have the talks
concluded by the end of 2015.

Trans-Pacific Partnership
On November 12, 2011, the Leaders of the nine Trans-Pacific
Partnership countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia,
New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States – announced
the achievement of the broad outlines of an ambitious, 21st-century
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that will enhance trade and
investment among the TPP partner countries, promote innovation, economic
growth and development, and support the creation and retention of jobs.

INCREASING AMERICAN EXPORTS, SUPPORTING AMERICAN JOBS

President Obama announced in November 2009 the United States’
intention to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
negotiations to conclude an ambitious, next-generation, Asia-Pacific
trade agreement that reflects U.S. priorities and values. Through this
agreement, we are seeking to boost U.S. economic growth and support the
creation and retention of high-quality jobs at home by increasing
American exports to a region that includes some of the world’s most
robust economies and that represents more than 40 percent of global
trade. The Obama Administration has been working in partnership with
Congress and consulting closely with stakeholders around the country to
ensure TPP addresses the issues that American businesses and workers are
facing today, and may confront in the future.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Framework

The United States, along with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile,
Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam are working to craft
a high-standard agreement that addresses new and emerging trade issues
and 21st-century challenges. The agreement will include:

• Core issues traditionally included in trade agreements, including
industrial goods, agriculture, and textiles as well as rules on
intellectual property, technical barriers to trade, labor, and
environment.

• Cross-cutting issues not previously in trade agreements, such as
making the regulatory systems of TPP countries more compatible so U.S.
companies can operate more seamlessly in TPP markets, and helping
innovative, job-creating small- and medium-sized enterprises participate
more actively in international trade.

• New emerging trade issues such as addressing trade and investment
in innovative products and services, including digital technologies, and
ensuring state-owned enterprises compete fairly with private companies
and do not distort competition in ways that put U.S. companies and
workers at a disadvantage.

Leading Asia-Pacific Regional Integration Initiative

The TPP is the most credible pathway to broader Asia-Pacific regional
economic integration. After nine rounds of negotiations, the nine
countries made solid progress and have now achieved the broad outlines
of an agreement. During their meeting on the margins of the APEC meeting
in Honolulu, the TPP Leaders agreed to seek to conclude the agreement
as quickly as possible and instructed their negotiators to expedite
their work. The nine countries also welcomed the interest expressed by
other countries in joining the agreement and will begin bilateral
processes with these interested countries to discuss their readiness and
ambition to meet the standards and objectives of the TPP. Once these
bilateral processes have concluded, all current Parties will decide on
inclusion of new members by consensus.

American Competitiveness in the Asia-Pacific

The TPP is a key element of the Obama Administration strategy to make
U.S. engagement in the Asia-Pacific region a top priority. The huge and
growing markets of the Asia-Pacific already are key destinations for
U.S. manufactured goods, agricultural products, and services suppliers.
As a group, TPP countries are the fourth largest goods and services
export market of the United States. U.S. goods exports to the broader
Asia-Pacific totaled $775 billion in 2010, a 25.5 percent increase over
2009 and equal to 61 percent of total U.S. goods exports to the world.
U.S. exports of agricultural products to the region totaled $83 billion
in 2010 and accounted for 72 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports
to the world. U.S. private services exports totaled $177 billion in 2009
(latest data available), 37 percent of total U.S. private services
exports to the world. America’s small- and medium-sized enterprises
alone exported $171 billion to the Asia-Pacific in 2009 (latest data
available).

_____________________________________________Video: Dennis Kucinich discusses the secrecy of the Trans Pacific PartnershipDennis Kucinich (Democrat) is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 10th district
October 18, 2012 before the elction of the U.S. President took place on November 6, 2012

This picture taken on July 23, 2012 shows 53 students from 14
countries holding hoops with their fingers as part of a cooperation
learning exercise at a class of the International School of Asia,
Karuizawa (ISAK) at Japan's mountain resort town Karuizawa in Nagano
prefecture, central Japan. -- PHOTO: AFP

KARUIZAWA, Japan (AFP) - Asia may be driving
growth in the world economy but a Japanese businesswoman behind an
innovative new school believes the region is over-reliant on
Western-style leadership.

Lin Kobayashi believes Asia is over-reliant on Western-style leadership (AFP/File, Shingo Ito)
Ms Lin Kobayashi hopes her foundation outside Tokyo will help change
that by breeding a wave of political and business leaders - but with
what she sees as a more "Asian" way of thinking.

Building work on the International School of Asia, Karuizawa (ISAK)
began in September. The launch of classes, all taught in English, is
planned for 2014 making it Japan's first international boarding high
school.

Ms Kobayashi, 38, a former investment analyst at Morgan Stanley, said
the school will bring together students from a wide range of cultures
and socio-economic backgrounds, with scholarships for poor students
funded by donations.

Lin Kobayashi hopes her foundation will help to breed a wave of political and business leaders (AFP/File, Shingo Ito)

But
she said she wasn’t aiming to simply rival elite schools such as
Britain’s Harrow or Dulwich College, which have set up Western-style
campuses in places such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

And she added she wanted to change what she sees as an assumption in
Asia that it was preferable to seek out education systems in which
Western-style leadership was taught.

“Asia is already at the centre of the world’s economy, but is still
relying on Western-style leadership that thinks charisma is only to be
found in a loud, top-down approach,” said Kobayashi, formerly of the
Japan Bank for International Cooperation and also the UN Children’s
Fund in Manila.

“I think we need Asia-oriented leaders who value consensus and harmony
and can combine that with deep background knowledge about the
complicated history and diverse cultures of Asia.”

— Regional history —

The foundation has so far collected 1.5 billion yen ($19 million) in
donations and private funding to cover initial costs, while inviting
prominent business figures to come on board as advisors.

In July it opened its third annual 10-day summer school, with 53 students from 14 countries. The course cost 300,000 yen.

Kobayashi said the school will place particular emphasis on regional
history, a subject that divides a continent where narratives differ
widely from country to country and are at the root of various
territorial stand-offs.

Tensions have recently flared between Japan and China in a row over
disputed islands in the East China Sea, with trade between the two
countries looking set to suffer. The relationship was worth well in
excess of $300 billion last year.

“We don’t teach one-sided history. It is important to learn about
diversity of historical perspectives and the multi-ethnic structure of
the region,” Kobayashi said, adding that she wanted to bring in
teachers from many different backgrounds.

Lzaw Saw Nai, a 14-year-old student from Myanmar who joined this year’s
summer school, said he was “very much interested in leadership”.

“We have political and many other problems in my country,” he said. “I
feel I should do something, but first I need to learn. So, I came
here.”

Tareq Habash, 13, from Palestine, said: “My country is in need of
leaders who can understand the need of the country and not just for
what they want for themselves.”

— “Free-thinking” —

Kobayashi said she hopes potential future leaders of Japan, a place
where politics is often criticised for its lack of talent, will also
benefit.

“Japanese
education does not do enough to train people to lead,” she said,
adding that this was something the country desperately needed in a
region increasingly dominated by a rising China.

In the wake of defeat in World War II, Tokyo fashioned an education system that prized uniformity.

While observers say this was one of the things that helped drive the
miracle of recovery, they also argue that uniformity is now hampering
progress, amid calls for strong, free-thinking leaders who can drive
the country forward.

Yoshiaki Nomura, an expert in leadership education at Osaka University, said the idea of the new Asian school was timely.

“I think a curriculum that will foster a new elite is needed,” said Nomura.

"We have learnt a lot about classic theories of Western leadership, but
I often feel that what we need in Asia may be different.”

Jun Nakahara, associate professor of higher education at the University
of Tokyo, agreed that leadership is not always an innate quality but
rather “something you have to learn about”.

But he said on-the-job experience may be more valuable than classroom-based learning.

“They have to provide students with opportunities for practical
experience in which they can exercise their own leadership,” he said.

He added that the school could be a ground for future networking
opportunities but that it would “take some time” before it enjoyed the
kind of influence of its established rivals in the West.

Friday, 23 November 2012

(Reuters) - China's vast manufacturing sector saw expansion accelerate
in November for the first time in 13 months, preliminary results from a
factory survey showed, a sign that the pace of economic growth has
revived after seven consecutive quarters of slowdown.

The China
HSBC Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to a
13-month high of 50.4 in November, the latest indicator of recovery in
the real economy after data showing solid credit growth, firmer exports and rising industrial output in the previous month.

A sub-index measuring output rose to 51.3, also the highest since October 2011.

"This
reflects that conditions for smaller firms, especially exporters, are
looking up," said Li Wei, a Shanghai-based economist for Standard
Chartered. "The consensus in the market is already for a small, gradual
improvement."

An uptick in key
economic activity indicators in October, following encouraging signs in
September, cemented the view of many analysts and investors that a
rebound in the world's second largest economy
gathered momentum as it entered the fourth quarter, thanks to a raft of
pro-growth policies rolled out by the government over recent months.

China
is currently shuffling its senior officials after the seven top leaders
of the ruling Communist Party were selected at a congress last week.
The new appointments should end months of uncertainty in the highest
ranks, although economic policy is not expected to change abruptly in
the near-term.

Even before the
congress, the central bank had moved to ease liquidity by pumping
short-term cash into money markets rather than resorting to the interest
rate cuts or reduction in banks' required reserve ratios that many
investors had expected.

STEADY THROUGH YEAR-END

This
month's PMI reading above 50 is likely to be seen as a turning point by
the market, particularly if it is born out by the final reading due on
December 1 and by official indicators.

Asian
shares extended gains slightly after the data to stand up nearly 1
percent on the day and the Australian dollar, sensitive to demand from
the biggest customer for Australia's resources, rose as far as $1.04.

"This
confirms that the economic recovery continues to gain momentum towards
the year-end," Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at index sponsor HSBC,
said in a statement accompanying the data.

"However,
it is still the early stage of recovery and global economic growth
remains fragile. This calls for a continuation of policy easing to
strengthen the recovery."

With a
one-month exception in October 2011, the HSBC PMI -- which largely
reflects the private manufacturing sector -- has remained stubbornly
below the 50-point level separating accelerating from slowing growth
since June 2011.

Unlike the patchy
results seen in previous months, in November almost all the sub-indices
in the HSBC survey concurred in showing an improving economy.

The
one exception was a fall in the sub-index measuring output prices,
demonstrating that manufacturers are still struggling with overcapacity
and relatively weak domestic demand.

That
could also reflect the weight in the survey of exporting firms, which
have less ability to raise sales prices, said Standard Chartered's Li.

Indeed,
China's exporters are increasingly squeezed by rising domestic costs
and competition from new international suppliers, Zhou Haijiang, head of
Chinese textile exporter Hodo Group, told reporters this month.

"Not
only Western countries manufacture industrial goods, but also a lot of
developing countries including former socialist countries who now have
market economies are all exporting, thus creating a global surplus that
cannot be changed," Zhou said.

"Because
of this it is hard to raise sales prices, everyone is selling and it is
hard for manufactured goods prices to rise. In some cases prices have
even fallen."

Analysts expect no
further cuts to interest rates this year or next after back-to-back cuts
in June and July, and only one more 50 basis point cut to banks'
required reserve ratios (RRR) in 2012 after three since late 2011 that
have freed an estimated 1.2 trillion yuan for new lending.

Chinese banks are on course to make new loans worth more than 8.5 trillion yuan
($1.4 trillion) in 2012, expansionary versus the 7.5 trillion of new
loans extended in 2011 and above the 8 trillion yuan that sources told
Reuters back in February was the target for 2012.

Total
social financing aggregate, a broad measure of liquidity in the
economy, weakened to 1.29 trillion yuan in October, down from 1.65
trillion yuan in September, but still remained on track to hit a record
14 trillion yuan this year.

China
also opened many previously-closed sectors to private investment with a
view to funding new infrastructure projects and supporting economic
growth without piling on more debt that local governments can
ill-afford.

Although analysts
expect fourth quarter GDP growth to outpace the 7.4 percent seen in the
third quarter, full-year expansion for 2012 is expected to be the
slowest in 13 years.